Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-02-10

on the cheapest food and endure pri-
vations and hardships that would kill
nine out of ten of our native popula-
ton. 1 saw one poor fellow, who. by
the cut of his clothes had apparently
but recently left sunny Italy, trying to
thaw out his frost-bitten fingers on one
of the chilliest days during our recent
cold snap. He had gathered fay pa
pers together and started q bonfire un-
der the lee of one of the pillars which
support the elevated railroad. He was
thrusting his hands in the flames for
relief, but by the agony expressed in his
| face am fearful that it did not come.
Brooklyn pays about s65.o0O annual
" for the removal of its ashes, and last
year over 260, 900 loads Were carted to
the low lots which abound in South
Brooklyn and elsewhere. 1t is near
these dumps, in miserable novels, that
the last, but by no means the least, class
of this great family of rag-pickers
dwell. They are up betimes in the
morning awaiting the arrival OF the
ash carts like SO many vultures would
await the coming of prey. and no car
rion crows ever plunged their talons in
| the carcass of a dead COW with more
voracity than these people settle down
to frouzy examination of the ash
heaps. A person would suppose that
little remains in the ashes after the
rummaging of the Italian street pick
ers. But men, women and children by
the hundreds work there with bag and
basket from sunrise to sunset. Old
coal scuttles, pots, kettles, pans, broken
crockery, hats, caps, bonrets, east off
garments, feathers, coal, wood and a
multitude OF similar articles are taken
to the finders shanties and cleaned and
repaired for personal use. Old metal,
rags, paper, bones, bottles, tin cans
and scraps of tin, hair, corks, bits of
leather and rope are carried away for
assortment and sale. There are hum
dreds of things which our forefathers
threw away. which we find many
ways of utilizing. Within gen
Grafton the residuary products
arising from the manufacture of
gas, which were formerly considered
worthless, have through new meth
DDS of distillation and manufacture
been made to yield coal oil, salts of
ammonia, naphtha, tar, pitch, creosote,
benzole. carbolic acid, parafline, am
line, naphthaline, and, by combination
with coal, sha!es, alum, copperas and
sulphuric acid. So it is with the con-
tents of the rag-picker's bag. Wooden
rags. old stockings, white flannel, car
peting, serge, tailors' trimmings, old
coats. gowns ard other condemned
garments are sent to the shoddy man
ufacturcr. where they are torn into
shreds, mixed with new wool and man
ufacturcd into cheap and serviceable
cloth. Wooden rags are also ground up
into flock and artificial flowers and can
always he used no matter how old.
Linen cloths are sent to the paper
manufacturers and transformed into
the best paper. Cotton rags go to
paper makers. while house rags and
dish cloths, which are covered with
grease, are sold to hop growers for
manure. All kinds of paper are sent
to the papier mache manufacturer. who
produces various ornamental and use
full articles, such as tea trays, cigar and
tobacco cases and match boxes. Bones
are boiled for their grease and gel
.,tI fad int .,l,n
used in sugar retineries, sold to
the tanner who manufactures case
handles. knive handles and other use
full articles, or they are ground up and
sold to the farmer as phosphates of
lime, forming an excellent and highly
valued manure. Old bottles, phials
and fragments of glass are remelted,
colored by a unique process and made
into fiat pieces which are broken up
into irregular shapes to serve as mosaic
window glass. Pieces of tin and tin
cans are sold to chemical works or to
manufacturers who melt them into
window weights. Old boots are sold
to men who patch them up for the
cheap trade. or if they are too dilapi-
dated they are ground up with other
fragments of leather and compressed
into insoles for cheap shoes. The tin
and solder are removed from old
saucepans aud sold to the dealer in
these articles. In Paris the utility of
every thing is demonstrated. Coal and
ashes are sold to brick burners. the dye
is extracted from scarlet cloths for
wood staining purposes, and the bodies
of dead cats and dogs are skinned and
the hides used in the manufacture of
gloves, and one enterprising chap buys
bits of bread, grinds them up and re-
sells them to French cooks as bread
crumbs.-G. +. A.. in Brooklyn Eagle.
Il suppose" said Dumley, afterhe
had registered, to the hotel clerk,
THAT when guest has no baggage his
personal appearance has more or less
to do in making him pay in advance"
'Oh, yes" replied the clerk. '.In
this business we soon learn to size
man M. VIII Won have your trunk